THAI TUK TUK

Written by: C Blackmore.

In 2013 I left New Zealand as a young fella who knew little about global transportation. The first trip was a 2-week holiday through South East Asia. Day 1 was spent in Bangkok; I’d arrived late the night before and woke up with no clue of our location or what to do with the day. A few steps outside the hotel I was greeted by an enthusiastic Thai man gesturing to his Tuk Tuk. Within minutes I was being whisked around the city.

Those of you who have travelled to Bangkok will read that last paragraph and cringe, knowing exactly what I got myself into. A whirlwind tour of tailor shops, gem stores and dodgy tourist themed roadside stalls was my introduction to the Thai Tuk Tuk. Despite a rough start, I still became relatively obsessed with this form of transport.

To be entirely honest I never actually used Tuk Tuk’s much during my 2-year stint in the country. The times that I did, was always due to it being the last option available for transportation. I spoke semi fluent Thai at the time but had yet to master the art of getting ‘local pricing’ on Tuk Tuks. In one location I lived, a local driver had promised to let me have a go driving his personal Tuk Tuk, but the offer never eventuated.

Much to my surprise, the first opportunity I would get to drive a Tuk Tuk would be in New Zealand. 7 years after moving back home I stumbled across a Tuk Tuk that seemed familiar to me. I introduced myself to the owner and we got chatting. After a few minutes I realised this machine had been listed online for sale around 6 months prior, I watched the listing till it ended and thought I’d never see the Tuk Tuk again. However the new owner was local to me and excited to meet someone that was enthusiastic about this transportation oddity.

A few conversations later, I picked the Tuk Tuk up with a promise to help sort it’s minor issues. The first drive was wild. The clutch was operated by the foot I was used to using as a brake. The rear brake was operated by the foot I was used to using for a motorcycle gear shifter. Overall it was an entirely odd experience. Once parked up, we started pulling covers off to figure out exactly what was powering the Tuk Tuk.

Despite arriving in New Zealand in the late 80’s as a 2 stroke powered machine, an engine swap had taken place and a 4 stroke, 4 speed, 3 cylinder engine was now the power plant. Thailand started throwing Daihatsu 4 stroke engines in Tuk Tuks sometime during the 90’s. However this machine ended up having a Suzuki F6A thrown in. All signs point to the swap having happened in New Zealand and while the effort thrown into the build was extensive, some of the techniques used were interesting.